Few of my favorite — or most hated — drinks have changed since high school, despite regular attempts to try new drinks. Still, there are two fantastic ones that I have ‘discovered’ since I came to Cornell.

Like many people, my first memories of tequila are not the best. Nevertheless, there are numerous drinks in which the flavors of the Mexican agave-based liquor complement the drink. Margaritas or straight shots of tequila with lime and salt are options, but my favorite is the often overlooked Tequila Sunrise:

2 ounces tequila

4 ounces orange juice

2/3 ounce grenadine (cherry syrup)

Pour tequila and orange juice over ice. Add grenadine last; it will sink to the bottom and slowly rise, giving the drink its name.

This might seem terrible at first glance, but I’ve seen several friends start drinking tequila sunrises after watching me order them regularly. Plus, the tequila and the orange juice probably originate from the same place, anyway.

This next drink might be a little harder to put together. While some local liquor stores and bars carry the sugarcane-based cachaça from Brazil, many don’t. Nonetheless, this liquor, which is similar to rum but less sweet, is one of the most popular spirits in the world. Although in Brazil it is often sipped straight, there are a variety of other ways to drink it. I think it’s best in a Caipirinha:

1 2/3 ounces cachaça

½ lime, cut into wedges

2 teaspoons sugar

Mash lime and sugar in the bottom of a glass (ideally with a wooden spoon) to make sweetened lime juice. Fill glass with crushed ice and add cachaça.

Watch how many of these you drink, even if they are the national drink of Brazil — there’s almost nothing but liquor in them.

My last suggestion is not something I discovered in college, but rather a family of drinks I keep returning to time and time again — flavored vodkas mixed with tonic, soda water or Sprite/7-Up. While the bottled variety may not be as interesting as some of the concoctions infused at home or in bars (imagine giant vats of vodka with berries, coffee, lemons and other items lining a high shelf in one Russian-New York bar), there is no shortage of flavors to check out at the liquor store. Blueberry vodka and tonic can make a good combination, but passion fruit or white grape might be a better way to add some flavor to your night.

This is the last installment of Please Drink Responsibly, as I will be graduating later this month. Thanks to Jess and Leigha for all their help with it — and for their great work as the first two Eclipse editors — over the past year and a half.